Jude averted his eyes and muttered, “No.”
“So where is this woman you’ve told me about? Where’s the blood? Or all of these occult symbols you both mentioned?” Ashley went to speak, but PC Riaz cut her off again with his palm. “Sleep on it tonight, okay? Perhaps we can have a different conversation tomorrow. I need the night to decide what to do about this.”
“Surely they’re not in any trouble?” said Helen.
“I can’t promise that, ma’am.”
“She was there!” said Jude, teary-eyed.
PC Riaz’s placid expression broke, and he put on a scowl. “Don’t dig yourself in any deeper, son. Get some dinner and go to bed. We’ll revisit things in the morning.”
Ashley grunted, and under her breath, she said, “This is bullshit.”
Helen shushed her. “Ashley.”
PC Riaz tilted his head as if he hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry, young lady?”
“I said, this is fucking bullshit. There was a woman chained up in that farmhouse. Jude and I aren’t lying. She was there. She was fucking there. Instead of doing something about it, you’re talking to us like a pair of naughty little kids.”
“I suggest you calm down, right now.”
Ashley jumped up from her chair and slapped the table. “She was fucking there, so why can’t you find her?”
Jude was shaking his head and staring into space. “We left her. We never should’ve left her.”
PC Riaz looked between them. Once again, he appeared as confused as he did angry.
“You need to find her,” Ashley yelled. “You need to tell your stupid mates to search that house properly and do their fucking jobs.”
PC Riaz downed the last of his coffee and slammed the ‘Del Boy’ mug on the coaster. He stood up from his chair and clicked his fingers at Ashley. “Okay, young lady. I was willing to put this down to some kind of mischief gone wrong, but my good faith has dried up. I’m taking you home to your parents. They should be made aware of your behaviour tonight.”
Helen moved towards the table. “Come on now, Officer, there’s no need for that. I’ll see that Ashley gets home safely.”
PC Riaz looked past her and focused on Ashley. “You can either go in handcuffs or by choice, but do not test my patience. I’ve none left. You’ve had half the station running around for you tonight, young lady, so either you calm down and come with me, or I’ll be calling your parents to come and collect you from the police station.”
Jude groaned. “Just go with him, Ashley. Just… go.”
Ashley was furious. It took everything she had to keep it all inside and not make things worse. She had known this would end with her somehow being in trouble. She had just known it. “Fine,” she said, shaking her head. “Take me home. With any luck, I’ll only get grounded for a year.”
Worse luck, and my dad will chain me up like that woman in the farmhouse.
She was there.
She was real.
We saw her.
Chapter Six
Ashley’s dad was furious, which was nothing new. He kept snatching at his jet-black hair and yanking it so that it tufted out at the sides and made him look insane. He paced back and forth in the kitchen. Now and then he would pick something up, like the coffeepot or a ladle, and stare at it as he spoke. It was as if he couldn’t bear looking at Ashley.
Ashley was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring at her bare feet and twinkling her toes. “I’ve told you,” she muttered. “It’s the truth. There was a woman in the woods.”
Ashley’s mum put a hand over her face and groaned. “Ash, you need to stop this. You’re going to end up in so much trouble. I know the summer’s been boring, but this isn’t right. You can’t tell lies like this.”
Her dad put the ladle down and finally looked at Ashley. “I’m so disappointed in you, Ashley. I didn’t raise a liar. This isn’t why I work so hard.”
Ashley’s hands clenched into fists. She kept focusing on her toes, trying to stay calm. It was difficult. “Why don’t you believe me?”
Her mum spluttered. “The police said there was nothing out there. How can we believe you?”
“How about because I’m your fucking daughter.”
Her dad pointed right in her face, his heavy gold bracelet catching the kitchen’s spotlights. “Don’t you dare use that kind of language under my roof. In fact, get to your room. I can’t even deal with you right now.”
Ashley sneered. “Fine!” She stomped towards the kitchen door. “Thanks for nothing.”
“I’ll bring you something to eat,” her mum called after her.
Ashley stomped into the hallway and started upstairs, making sure her feet pounded every step. Her heart was thudding against her chest again, and as much as she wanted to punch the walls, she also felt a flood of tears coming. She didn’t understand what the hell was going on. How could such a mundane, boring day end up this way?
She went into her bedroom and pulled out her phone. The screen was cracked, but she could still see most of the display. She pulled up her short list of contacts and called Jude. He answered after only two rings.
“Ash?”
“Yeah. You okay, Jude?”
“Not really. This doesn’t make any sense.”
Ashley chuckled without humour. “Tell me about it. That woman was there, wasn’t she? She was real.”
There was a slight pause before Jude answered. “There’s not a doubt in my mind, Ash. That woman was chained up.”
“So where the hell did she go?”
“She must have… that… somewhere.”
Ashley pressed the phone against her ear. “What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”
“I said… that… must have… where.”
“Dammit. The signal is bad. Can you hear me? Jude, are you still there?”
There was a beeping sound, and when Ashley looked at her phone, the call had ended. She thought about calling him back but decided against it. She just wanted to lie back on her bed and stare at the ceiling. Her mind had been running a thousand miles a minute for the last few hours and she was exhausted. No more thinking or talking or moving.
She threw her phone on the bed and perched on the end. Her sheets had been changed, and she could smell the scented dryer sheets her mum used. The duvet cover was pink with little rainbows on it, one she’d had for years. It suddenly seemed childish. Likewise, her purple-painted walls annoyed her, and she wished they were just plain white. The things in her room that had once given her comfort now only made her sad. The stuffed unicorn on her windowsill that her dad had won from a grabber machine on a day trip to the seaside now only reminded her of how old she had got, and how she could never go back to those carefree times of being a child.
My dad doesn’t look at me the way he used to. I’m not his little girl anymore.
She listened to her parents arguing downstairs and tried to make out the words. As usual, it was her dad’s voice which was loudest. He was ranting and raving about everything and nothing.
What else is new?
She didn’t know if he had always been this angry, or if it was just lately, but she hated being around him. He was constantly grumpy. Perhaps it was his job – he never stopped going on about how much he hated it – but she wasn’t even sure what he did, other than it was at a factory. He often came home covered in oil and would spend a full hour in the bath with a glass of wine. Often, he would say that it wasn’t who he was supposed to be, like he was being forced to work against his will. If he hated his job so much, he should just quit. Maybe then he would cheer up and be her old dad again.
I miss him.
When Ashley had been a little girl, her dad had always told her he would one day open an Italian restaurant and let her work in it with him. Her grandfather had owned a restaurant in Italy before she’d been born, and it was her dad’s dream to do the same in the UK. The older she had got, however, the less her dad talked about the restaurant and the more she reali
sed dreams didn’t come true. Now, even if he did open a restaurant, the last thing she would do was work there.
For a while, she sat on the end of the bed in total silence, staring at herself in the mirror attached to her rickety old wardrobe. The scratch on her face had scabbed over, and her hair still had bits of twigs and leaves in it. She looked like a lunatic.
Maybe I’m crazy.
Maybe I imagined the whole thing about the woman in the farmhouse.
But Jude saw it too.
Lost in thought, she flinched when her bedroom door opened. It was her mum, holding a tray with a plate of sandwiches and a packet of crisps. “Your dad was going to make spaghetti,” she said, “but he’s too stressed now. If you get hungry later on, there are Pot Noodles in the cupboard.”
Ashley thanked her mum and took the plate of sandwiches. “Has he calmed down yet?”
“Don’t be unfair, Ash. He has a right to be angry. We’re both really disappointed in you.”
“But you didn’t lose your shit, did you, Mum? Why is he like this? He never used to be.”
Her mum tutted. She picked up Ashley’s phone from the bed, turned around, and sat beside her. “People have different ways of dealing with things, honey. Your dad has reached an age where he’s analysing things a little too much. He wanted better for us than this – he has a lot of dreams – but the world is tough and it’s hard sometimes. Give your dad a break, okay? Things will go back to normal soon. Anyway, I’m surprised you’re judging him so much, seeing as you two are so alike. You have a temper as well, Ashley.”
Ashley nodded. She was aware of her own temper and wished it wasn’t there, but it was just part of who she was. She took things personally, and it was obvious why. Like her mum had said, Ashley and her dad were the same. Italian temper: that’s what he always called it.
When Ashley didn’t reply, her mum patted her on the leg. “We’ll sort all of this out. I’m not sure what happened today, exactly, but I know you’re not a liar, Ash.”
“Really? You believe me?”
Her mum nodded. “Yeah, I suppose I do. We’ll sort it all out tomorrow, okay? Once your dad has calmed down, we can deal with things properly.”
There was a banging downstairs, followed by the sound of Ashley’s dad stomping around in the kitchen and shouting.
Ashley’s mum sighed and stood up from the bed. “He must’ve dropped a wine glass. I’d better go help him. Here’s your pho—” She had been about to hand Ashley back her phone when she noticed the cracked screen. “Oh, Ashley, you’ve only just got this. Your dad’s going to have a fit.”
Ashley reached a hand out, begging for the phone. “Don’t tell him then. It’s fine. It still works. I’ll just have to live with it.”
Her mum put the broken phone in her jeans pocket. “I’ll take it to the market tomorrow and see if the phone man can fix it. Perhaps your dad doesn’t have to find out. Now, eat your sandwiches.”
Ashley smiled. “Thanks, Mum.”
Her mum left her room and closed the door. Ashley remained on her bed and ate the sandwiches – turkey and mayo, her favourite. The fact that her mum believed her caused her temper to finally take a breather, and things felt a little easier knowing that not everyone was out to get her, although she was still utterly confused and pretty freaked out. There were still tears gathering behind her eyes but, as she concentrated on eating, they slowly went away.
Then she stopped eating.
She froze with a mouthful of turkey sandwich because it didn’t taste like turkey. In fact, it didn’t even feel like turkey. Something was off.
Wrong.
Her teeth had bitten into something hard and fibrous.
Grimacing, Ashley leant over her plate and spat out the sandwich. For a moment, she didn’t know what she was looking at, but then something in the half-chewed mush wriggled – half a worm. There was blood mixed with the white bread.
“Jesus Christ!” Ashley leapt up from her bed and threw the plate on the floor where it broke in two. She started spitting and wiping at her mouth. “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?”
Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Ashley clenched her fists and waited for her dad’s arrival. He burst into her bedroom, already angry. “What the hell is all the racket and shouting?” He noticed the broken plate on the floor.
Before he got a chance to yell again, Ashley cut him off. “There’s a fucking worm in my sandwich. What the hell, Dad?”
It took him off guard, and some of the anger slipped from his face. He looked down at the sandwich, frowned, and prodded it with his foot. “What are you talking about?”
“A worm. Look! It’s right…” Ashley stared at the sandwich but couldn’t locate the half-eaten worm. She dropped onto her knees and pulled the bread apart.
No worm.
“I… I…”
Her dad huffed. “Do we need to get you a doctor, Ashley? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?”
Ashley shook her head in disbelief and didn’t know what to say. She felt like she was dreaming.
More like a nightmare.
Equally as perplexed, her dad shook his head and let out a sigh. “Just… clean this up. I don’t want to hear from you for the rest of the night.”
“Fine.”
She waited for him to leave, then cleaned up the sandwich. Still no sign of any worm.
I’m losing my mind.
There was no worm.
Maybe there was no woman.
I can’t think about this anymore. I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
If I haven’t already.
She reached down and pulled her laptop from beneath her bed, wanting to occupy herself. Netflix, YouTube, whatever; she just needed something to quieten the whispers in her head. She hopped onto her bed and lay back against the pillows with the laptop across her thighs. Opening the screen, she started browsing for something to watch. Eventually, she decided on a comedy. Right now, she needed to laugh.
She pressed play on some random romantic comedy that came up in her recommendations and settled down to watch it. After a few moments of watching a black screen, she tapped at the spacebar. With the way her night had gone so far, her laptop breaking would be the cherry on the cake. Fortunately, the film started playing a moment later, although it wasn’t what she expected.
Rather than some peppy music over a top-down view of some city, or a melodramatic coffee shop break-up, the film opened with two children playing chase in a field. They were wearing old-fashioned clothes. One of them, a boy, even wore a flat cap. The girl wore a frilly cream-coloured dress. The two children were running around, chasing one another outside a lovely old house. In fact…
What the hell?
…it was a farmhouse not unlike the one Ashley had visited today. It was enough of a coincidence that she reached for the escape key, but before she could close the window, the two children turned to the camera and let out an ear-piercing scream. The camera zoomed in on their faces, and all Ashley could see was their pained expressions. It was a shock, and she barely kept from tossing her laptop away and wailing in fright.
Instead, she fell into complete silence.
Her mouth fell open in horror as the children’s faces began to wither and rot before her eyes. Their skin burst open. Their cheeks melted away. Worms wriggled from their noses and mouths. Their eyeballs shrivelled away inside empty sockets.
I’m going to throw up.
Ashley slammed her laptop closed and tossed it onto the end of her bed. She wanted to scream out for her parents, but she knew they wouldn’t believe her. They would only lecture her for watching inappropriate films, and she didn’t want to hear any more of her dad’s ranting tonight.
She was alone with her terror.
I’m alone.
She slid beneath her bed sheets and wrapped herself up tightly. She stared up at the ceiling, too spooked to look anywhere else.
I’m going insane. I’m going insane. I’m going in
sane.
Chapter Seven
Jude’s tummy rumbled. Checking his watch, he saw it was nearly nine o’clock. With the drama of the evening, his mum had forgotten to cook. It wasn’t the first time, but at least this time she had a valid excuse.
He had been surfing the web on his laptop, considering whether or not to masturbate, but he decided he wanted food more. He slid his laptop under his bed and went downstairs. The lights were all off except for the lamps in the living room, and when he peeked in, he saw his mum spread out on the couch. A bottle of wine sat, empty, on the coffee table in front of her, and she was watching Judge Judy, murmuring to herself and chuckling. Commentating on television programmes was a habit of hers after a few glasses. Last month, they had sat and watched Wreck-It Ralph; he’d barely heard a word.
Not even sure who the villain was.
Jude continued into the kitchen and switched on the light, then went straight to the fridge. He rooted around, but there wasn’t much in. He scrounged a yoghurt and a lump of cheddar, which he cut into thin slices and put in a sandwich. Luckily, he wasn’t a big eater. He’d make up for it in the morning with a big bowl of cereal. He sat at the kitchen table and ate.
What a freaky day.
I hope Ashley’s okay. Her dad probably went schizo when she got home with a police escort.
Jude liked Ashley’s parents, but her dad could be a little scary when he was in a bad mood. He shouted a lot and stomped around the house. Ashley’s mum was always nice, though. She had used to be good friends with his own mum, but they had fallen out about something three or four years ago. Neither would say what about.
Witch: A Horror Novel (The Cursed Manuscripts) Page 5